CLARENCE DARROW CHRONOLOGY

1857 Born in Ohio

1878 Admitted to the bar in Ohio; becomes small town solo practitioner

1887 Moves to Chicago

1889 Joins law department of the City of Chicago

1890 Appointed Acting Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago

1892 Becomes General Attorney for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway

1894 American Railway Union strike led by Eugene Debs

1895 Resigns from Chicago & Northwestern Railway to represent Debs in two cases brought by the federal goverment: a criminal prosecution for conspiracy for arson and other crimes committed by the strikers and a criminal contempt action for violating the strike injunction obtained by the government

1902 Appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to arbitrate Pennsylvania coal strike

1907 Successfully represents mining labor leader "Big Bill" Haywood on charges of murdering former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg

1910 LA Times building destroyed by fire; 20 employees die in the blaze

1911 Represents the McNamara brothers on charges of setting the LA Times fire

1912 Acquitted In LA on charges of attempting to bribe a member of the McNamara jury

1913 Re-prosecuted in LA on charges of bribing a different member of the McNamara jury; mistrial after jury failed to reach verdict Returns to Chicago without funds, intending to retire from the practice of law.

1924 Successfully argues against death penalty for Leopold and Loeb for the murder of 14 year old Robert Franks

1925 Represents high school teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of Tennessee statute

1926 Successfully defends Ossian Sweet, an African-American doctor, on charges of murder arising from a mob attack on his home when Sweet moved into an all-white neighborhood in Detroit

1938 Dies in Chicago